In my opinion the quote is wrong. If they played capitalism they would have enshittified and abused their monopoly so hard, they wouldn’t have a monopoly anymore. They have a de facto monopoly because they didn’t abuse it and enshittify as hard as they should have under capitalism.
The reason other companies cannot compete is because they do play capitalism, and it makes them shoot themselves in the feet.
It’s playing capitalism, but in a different way than most large (publically traded) companies. Enshittification and publically traded companies kinda go hand in hand due to shareholders’ gambling mindset. It makes companies prioritize big short term capital goals which often are at a detriment to the company’s longevity. Because Valve is a private company, their goal is the longevity and stability of the company rather than appeasing shareholders who are only invested due to gambling money into the company.
In my opinion the quote is wrong. If they played capitalism they would have enshittified and abused their monopoly so hard, they wouldn’t have a monopoly anymore. They have a de facto monopoly because they didn’t abuse it and enshittify as hard as they should have under capitalism.
The reason other companies cannot compete is because they do play capitalism, and it makes them shoot themselves in the feet.
It’s playing capitalism, but in a different way than most large (publically traded) companies. Enshittification and publically traded companies kinda go hand in hand due to shareholders’ gambling mindset. It makes companies prioritize big short term capital goals which often are at a detriment to the company’s longevity. Because Valve is a private company, their goal is the longevity and stability of the company rather than appeasing shareholders who are only invested due to gambling money into the company.